Glenna Bell For my final installment on âFrankie and Johnny,â I want to pick out two versions that, while not necessarily representing the kind of girl anthem (sardonic or otherwise) of Judy Henskeâs âLove Henry,â still present a womanâs voice … Continue reading →
Cyd Charisse as âFrankieâ in âMeet Me in Las Vegasâ   Going to the Movies:  Hipsters and Hootenannies  To paraphrase Lord Buckley,âFriends, blog-readers, countrymen, knock me your lobes.â  Sammy Davis, Jr. here takes a turn at Frankie … Continue reading →
Going to the Movies: Icons and Idols  The âFrankie and Johnnyâ story has gone through a few cinematic adaptations over the years.  It also appears in a few film musicals in productions that are otherwise unrelated to the âFrankieâ … Continue reading →
 Despite the fact that I think there was some âhourglass momentâ where this song slipped through a narrow channel to flow back out again, there is still so much diversity to the lyrics of this song that a âclose … Continue reading →
  âAs our American culture advances, it may be that classes will take up the Frankie songs as seriously as a play by Molière or a Restoration comedy or the Provençal ballads of FranceâŚ.While the Frankie story deals with … Continue reading →
Alan Lomax envisioned his collected fieldwork culminating into an amalgam of traditions, a sort of âglobal jukeboxâ available to the masses to learn from and enjoy. Finally, Lomaxâs vision is palpable, thanks to technological advancements in online archiving. Today, what … Continue reading →
Weâll start todayâs posts with some news accounts, to begin thinking about whether and how the facts matter to the song, and how the facts leave their traces, often in indirect ways, in the songs. Â For the moment at least, … Continue reading →
The LA-based GRAMMY Museum, in conjunction with Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. and the Woody Guthrie Archives, has announced details about their plans to commemorate the life and career of Oklahoma folk music legend Woody Guthrie in Tulsa. Designed to celebrate … Continue reading →
The Frankie and Johnny mural in the House Lounge at the Missouri State Capitol âFrankie and Johnnyâ or âFrankie and Albertâ is the most popular and commercially successful murder ballad. I canât think of a song that really comes remotely … Continue reading →
Ok, letâs bring this one on home. In the introductory post for the week, we learned that Child 10, the ballad commonly known as âTwo Sistersâ, is in fact quite old, with Scandinavian roots stretching back perhaps a thousand years. … Continue reading →
